The first news of the Sioux Uprising was brought to New Ulm at noon on August 18, 1862, by survivors of a Civil War recruiting party that had been ambushed in Milford Township. Barricades were hastily erected in a three-block area on Minnesota Street under Captain Jacob Nix's command, and Henry Behnke was sent to St. Peter to ask for help.
The first attack on Tuesday, August 19, by about one hundred Indians was repulsed. By the time of the major attack on August 23, some three hundred defenders had gathered, including volunteers from St. Peter, Mankato, and Le Sueur. Judge Charles E. Flandrau of Traverse des Sioux was elected to command the desperate defense of the beleaguered town. The battle raged all day and the outcome was often in doubt. On Sunday the 24th, as reinforcements under E. St. Julien Cox appeared, the Sioux withdrew up the Minnesota Valley.
Faced with a shortage of food and ammunition, and threatened with disease, two thousand refugees from New Ulm were evacuated to Mankato on the 25th, without mishap. Most of them returned shortly to rebuild the community.
Sponsored by the Brown County Historical Society
June 20, 1962
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